Being involved in any form of creative activity is therapy for your mind. Whether it’s writing, baking, gardening, sewing, or playing music, a creative outlet can really improve your mental clarity and help you feel good.

The beauty of creating is that it doesn’t have to be elaborate or groundbreaking. It can be just about whatever you want.

5 things you could try

Create your own happy place – this can be using your imagination, or creating a small area in your home where you can spend time in when things feel a bit overwhelming, just to chill and recharge. Your happy place could even be in your car with your favourite music playing.

Make your own gift of happiness box

Write a funny song and sing it out loud – even though I can’t sing, I do enjoy writing funny songs and even making funny dances and share with others.

Create a new superhero – After recovering from a period when i felt depressed and overwhelmed with life, I created my character Confident Queen to help others. I love dressing up and going out to make people smile and deliver gifts to cheer people up when they are feeling down.

Take a walk and enjoy the colours and sounds of nature.

I do enjoy going for early morning walk near where I live as I can enjoy the sounds of he birds chirping, the river flowing and just take time to enjoy my surroundings. It realy makes me feel good and fuels me to start my day on a positve note. I have also decided to get painting so that next time I am out I can start painting some of the images I see.

So what things creative things are you going to be doing? Please let me know!

Congratulations for completing this 7 days happiness challenge which I hope has left you feeling a bit happier as well as helping others to feel the same. Later on today I shall post details of how to get your certificae of completion and some goodies!

Next steps

What I would like you to do now, is to consciously everyday, make sure you have a happiness routine which you can follow so that it because automatic for you to follow each day. Here is an example I discovered http://www.drcarolynedwards.com/thankyou/ You now need to spend time to create your own. Do let me know how you get on and please feel free to send me your version!

Final Happiness tips!

Develop your happiness routines which you can use to:

Start your day – Fuel your day with positivity and good vibes

Middle of the day – Boost your mood in the afternoon

End of the day – Review your day, then focus on the positive before you fall asleep

Practise self care

Take time out each day to do something for yourself, because your life matters

3.Some ways you could help others to be happier:-

Share a smile

Encourage someone with kind words

Hug someone and let them know they are not alone

Listen to someone without being judgemental

Gift of a Smile Box

You can make your own box and put in it items that can help boost your mood. Keep the box in a place where you can see it everyday so that each day you can take a few minutes out of your busy schedule to write down moments in your life that made you smile. When you have moments when you are feeling a bit challenged you can remind yourself that no matter how challenging your life may be their is always, reasons to smile! I have a larger box at home and a smaller one which I leave in my handbag – it has positive affirmations, bouncy ball to remember to bounce back in life, small mirror I can look at to remind me I am Unique and special.

Here are some examples of Smile Boxes

Please emal me and let me know how you have found this week!

Check out my lates book – with some of the proceeds towards my mission of spreading Happinesss and Joy to as many people as I can!

You have something amazing to offer and contribute to this world. Don’t let the negative things people say about you hold you back and destroy your amazing destiny! Take what you have and make the most of it!

In life, we come across people who continually say negative things about us and try to destroy our self esteem and confidence as we listen to what they say and believe it. We have to try and not be part of this. Try not to talk about the way you are, talk about the way you want to be! When you wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say “ I am unique, special and do my best to always create moments of happiness and in life and in the life of others.

What you say about yourself will follow you and become your reality. For example if you always say “ I will never get a job” guess what, you will keep applying for jobs but you will never get one, because subconsciously you don’t believe you will get the job! Instead change your self talk, “ I am going to get a job I truly deserve and that I will enjoy.

Positive self-talk is the stuff that makes you feel good about yourself and the things that are going on in your life. It is like having an optimistic voice in your head that always looks on the bright side. The more you work on improving your self-talk the better you will get. It’s kind of like practicing an instrument or going to sports training, it won’t be easy to start with but will get better with time. Read more here http://au.reachout.com/what-is-self-talk

Over to you now!

Write down all the negative things you keep saying about yourself

Write down all the negative things others have said about you

Now try and convert those negative things into positives

From now on believe and keep saying those positive things about yourself

Monitor how your life changes as you keep being positive about yourself!

Please let me know how you get on and if you need help do let me know and we can have a free skype discussion. Just contact me genny @ confidentqueen . co. uk

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Thanks for being part of this 7 days challenge as we try and create our own inner and happiness as well as doing something to make others feel good and at least have a reason to smile each day.

Creating your happy place

Life can sometimes be so busy and overwhelming, that we sometimes need to just escape to a place where we can regain our energy and zest for life.

When I am feeling a bit low, I have different places I can go to, as I believe that sometimes just changing your environment can help you to feel much better. Your happy place can be a physical place or you could use your imagination and visualise being in your happy place and experiencing fun and laughter.

My Happy Outdoor place

Our Local Promenade – When I go to our local promenade, I feel very relaxed as I can sit down, watch the boats go by and as I watch the river, I spend time imagine myself on a boat going on a cruise to different parts of the world where I meet new people, have new experiences and just have fun. I can also feed the ducks, and make new friends as most times people will just come and sit next to me and start to chat.

I love spending time meditating by focusing on the waterfall and taking in the sounds it makes, as this helps to clear my mind,

Over to you now – Where is your place?

Remember its a place you can go to chill out, change your environment and zap up some energy, enthusiasm and passion for life.

Your happy place can be:-

A small area in your bedroom

In your garden

In your car

In your imagination where you just visualise being in your own happy Island – check my blog http://wp.me/p1aWbA-iz

Procrastination can be beaten, but just like any habit, you need a plan that you can commit and stick with all the way. Much of the stress that people feel doesn’t come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they started.” David Allen

To have a good chance of conquering procrastination, you need to spot straight away that you’re doing it. Then, you need to identify why you’re doing it and take appropriate steps to overcome the block. You also need to have the mindset that you can stop procrastinating and are now ready and committed to take the necessary actions. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_96.htm

Some tips to help you put an end to procrastination

Stop thinking. Start doing.

Don’t blow a task out of proportion. Break things down into manageable chunks

Just take the first step.

“Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.” Dale Carnegie

Just make a decision. Any decision.

“In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” Theodore Roosevelt

Now answer these questions in relation to something you have been putting off doing!

Why am I not doing what I know I should be doing?

What is stopping me from doing it?

Do I really need to do this?

Do I really need to do this myself?

Do I need to get someone else to do it?

What can I start doing?

What will happen if I continue to put off doing it?

How would I feel once I have done it?

Motivate yourself to complete the task by focussing on the relief and joy you will feel once its completed

So it’s time for you to look at some of the things that you are putting off and start to take action to do something about them. Below is a list of things that you may be putting off and now need to plan how you are going to tackle them.

Deal with your debt

Complete those little DIY jobs you started

Declutter your home

Sort out your paper work

Start that exercise or healthy eating plan

Try and resolved indifferences you may have with people who matter

Learn to say sorry to people who matter and who you care for

Ask for forgiveness where you feel you may have hurt someone

Delegate some of your house work to other family members

Wishing you all the best and hope you will feedback to me with the message below!

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Hello and welcome to day 3 of our Happiness Challenge, I hope you are taking time to do the activities and enjoying a happier life.

Why encourage someone?

At some point in our lives, we can feel overwhelmed, and fed up of trying to do things to make our lives betters. It is in those moments that we need to encourage ourselves not to give up. keep going and ask for help instead of suffering in silence. It is also equally important that we take time out to encourage one another by doing simple things like giving someone a hug, listening without being judgemental, praising their efforts etc!

Encouraging others is an important part of being part of a family, a group of people and a community. Everyone is doing their best in this world and sometimes, a kindly word of encouragement can help others realize that they’re not alone. Moreover, encouragement is a way of recognizing the good others do, and seeking more of it. Applauding success acknowledges that people matter and that their efforts mean much to you, whether the person is known to you, or even a stranger. Take some time out today to encourage someone who crosses your path.

Encouragement is about seeing the best in other people. If you’re in a particularly dark place, it can take longer to learn this skill but be strong––everyone has the ability to learn it. With practice and time, you can shift from always seeing the worst in others and discouraging people to being a more encouraging and supportive type of person.

Day 1 – I encouraged you to always take time to start your day by fuelling it with good vibes through the different things I suggested and the once yo have added yourself. Please make this a regular habit and keep doing this so that it becomes a regular habit.

Day 2– This was all about us taking time out of our busy schedule to do the things we love and take care of ourselves. Their is no point in us spending all our lives working so hard that we don’t have time to chill, and have fun!

May the Smile be with you! You are unique special and your life matters!

Their comes a time in our lives, when we just need to step back from running around, and take time to evaluate our lives and prioritise things so that we don’t end up fatigued, depressed and washed out. We have to try and make time for the people and things that matter. Below is a wheel of life which you can use to review how much time you spend of each are of your life. If you find that you are spending too much time at work and less with your self, family and friends, you will need to take time to reassess this.

Use the wheel of life below as a starting point to see how much time you spend in each of these areas, and slowly try to work towards a more balanced life. Your life matters, so take care of you.

( Image from : Synchealthblog.wordpress.com)

When your body decides it has had enough!

Sometime ago, I just felt very exhausted from running around, trying to do so many things that my body decided enough was enough, and I became unwell for 4 days. I was a bit annoyed at being unwell as I had appointments and work to complete, and being self employed I was worried that by cancelling the jobs I had this would lead to me not having the amount of money I had planned to get that week. Well the fact of the matter is their was nothing I could do about being unwell, so I had to cancel everything I had planned, and spent the time at home just relaxing and getting my children to help me do some of the usual household chores. One of my good friends even came around and mad me a smoothie, helped me to cook some soup and motivated me just by being their and showing that she cared.

During this time, I had to take time out to:-
•Take stock of every thing I was doing and why I was doing them
•Make a decision to let go and to stop doing things that were draining me
•Make a list of what was important to me
•Prioritise to spend time doing the things that were most important to me
•Create a list of people who I know I can call on to empower and motivate me
•Set realistic goals and how I was going to achieve them
•Made a decision to take better care of myself and to value my time

Things you could try to stay motivated

Try and stay positive. No matter what, motivation goes hand in hand with positivity. Even when things are looking down, keep your head up and push forward.

Speak to a friend who you know is supportive about how you are feeling and get them to encourage and support you back to the positive and fabulous person you are.

Read or listen to stories about people who have overcome adversity and the things they deed to lead a successful life. This will inspire, motivate, encourage, fuel you to do something positive to get you back on track.

Make things fun. At the gym, bring your favourite music. At work, bring yourself small treats to enjoy after small accomplishments. At home dress up in some fun outfits and have a party just to celebrate being you

Listen and sing to your favourite and most uplifting songs as this will help change your focus and energise you.

Do some form of exercise – e.g walking, dancing, cycling going to the gym as this will also help you to Exercise seems to have an effect on certain chemicals in the brain, like dopamine and serotonin. Brain cells use these chemicals to communicate with each other, so they affect your mood and thinking.

Wishing you all the best – You matter, so take care of you and may the Smile be with you always!